Device for conforming a shoe upper to the shape of a last



0a. 22, 1946. 'M, SPA K T 2,409,721

DEVICE FOR CONFORMING h SHOE UPPER TO THE SHAPE OF A LAST v Filed March 29, 1945 v 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Oct. 22, 1946. M. sPAcK 2,409,721 DEVICE FOR'CONFORMING A SHOE UPPER TO THE SHAPE OF A LAST I Filed March 29, 1945- 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Jfilftliib? Maurice p nk Patented Oct. 22, 1946 DEVICE FOR CONFORMING A SHOE UPPER TO THE SHAPE OF A LAST Maurice Spack, Newton Center, Mass.

Application March 29, 1945, Serial No. 585,427

3 Claims.

This invention relates to the manufacture of shoes and particularly to a device for treating the upper of the shoe to conform it to the shape of the last.

In the ordinary methods used in making shoes, the parts forming the upper are sewed together, and then the upper is applied to a last and is acted upon by a lasting machine which draws the edge of the upper around the sides and over the bottom of the last, thus causing the upper to conform exactly to the shape of the last, The lasting machines used for this purpose are more or less complicated and expensive affairs.

It is one of the objects of my present invention to provide a simple device which can be used in the manufacture of many types of shoes in place of a lasting machine for shaping and conforming the upper to the last.

My invention contemplates the use of a last of that known type in which the plane of the botton face of the heel portion is offset from the plane of the bottom face at the toe portion, and it includes a lasting strap element in the form of a closed loop, some portion at least of which is elastic, together with means for anchoring the lasting strap element to the bottom of the last at the heel portion thereof.

In using my device the shoe upper is applied to the last in the usual way and the lasting strap is arranged so that it extends from the bottom of the heel around over the top face of the .toe

portion of the last and back to the bottom of the heel. With the strap thus associated with the last, the portion of the strap whichoverlies the fore part of the last and upper is manipulated to bring it into a position in which it embraces the toe portion of the last, said lasting strap having a wipin contact with the upper during such manipulation. This operation will cause the upper to conform exactly to the last, and when the lasting strap has been brought into this position the portion of the strap embracing the toe and sides of the fore part of the last will extend substantially parallel to the bottom face of the last at the toe portion, while the rear end of the lasting strap element passes from the side of the last on to the bottom of the last at the heel portion' and thereby causes the upper at the shank I After the upper has thus been treated in accordancewith my invention, then the lasted upper may be subjected to any of the usual operations by which a sole is attached to the upper and the shoe is finished.

In order to give an understanding of my invention, I have illustrated in the drawing a selected embodiment thereof, which will now be described, after which the novel features will b pointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawings:

Fig. l is a perspective view of a shoe upper ready to be lasted.

Fig. 2 is a perspective view showing my improved lasting strap.

Fig. 3 is a side view of the upper after it has been applied to the last but before the lasting operation has been accomplished.

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the unlasted up out the lasting operation, the shoe upper is applied to a last 2 as usual which may be supported in inverted position upon a suitable support or jack 3. The last 2 herein shown is of that type in whichthe plane of the bottom face of the last at the heel portion is offset from the plane of the bottom face at thetoe portion.

When the upper is first applied to the last, the toe portion thereof will be more or less flat and will not conform at all to the exact hape of the last. In order to shape the upper and make it conform to the shape of the last, I employ a U- shaped strap element 4 which is made of flexible material and the ends ofiwhich are resiliently anchored to the bottom of the heel portion of the last. This strap 4 can be made of leather, rubber or even metal provided it is sufliciently flexible so that it will readily conform to the contour of the last. .As stated above the ends 5 of the trap are anchored to the bottom of the heel portion ofzthe last by suitable resilient means. In the construction-shown, the last 2 has a headed stud 6 projecting from its bottom face at the heel portion thereof,; and said ends 5 of the strap.

are connectedby a springconnection In assembling the strap element with the last having the upper thereon, the toe portion of the last and upper will be inserted through the loop of the strap and the spring connection I is then placed around the headed anchoring stud 6 as shown in Figs. 3, 4, and 5. The strap element 4 together with the resilient or elastic connection 1 forms a closed loop element, some portion at least of which is elastic or stretchable.

The trap 4 is of such length that when it is assembled with the last the bight end 8 of the loop will be located a short distance back of the toe of the last as also best seen in Figs. 3 and 4.

The loop of the strap is then grasped and brought against the upper and is pulled forwardly while still in contact with the upper so as to carry the bight end 8 of the strap around the toe of the last as indicated in Figs. and 6. During this operation the lasting strap element comprising the strap member 4 and the connection I has a pivoting movement about the stud 6 and the frictional engagement of the strap with the upper will cause the latter to conform exactly to the shape of the last, and when the strap has been worked into its final operative position shown in Figs. 5 and 6 the toe portion of the upper will be held tightly clamped against the last adjacent the bottom thereof.

When the lasting strap element is in its operative position shown in Fig. 5, the front portion thereof embraces the fore part of the last while the rear portion, that is the pring connection 1, lies on the bottom face of the heel portion of the last. Because of the offset relation between the bottom face of the heel portion of the last and the bottom face of the fore part of the last, the lasting strap element will be situated entirely in the same plane and it will extend around the toe of the last along the sides of the fore part of the last parallel to the bottom face of the last, and then will pass from the sides of the last on to the bottom face of the heel of the last at the shank portion thereof. The portion of the lasting strap element which passes from the side of the fore part of the last on to the bottom of the heel of the last at the shank portion thereof will hold the upper snugly against the sides of the last at said hank portion.

Moreover 'with the construction shown, the point at which the connection I is anchored to the bottom of the last is in the plane of the strap when in its operative position and hence there is no tendency for the strap 4 to become displaced by the strain to which it is subjected.

In order to assist the operator in getting the upper properly centered on the last before it is acted upon by the upper-conforming strap, I propose to make the bottom of the last with two or more positioning holes 9 and to provide the upper adjacent its edge with corresponding positioning holes Ill. When the upper has been placed on the last as shown in Fig. 4, then the operator may enter a nail or pin I I through each hole 50 of the upper and into the corresponding positioning hole 9 of the last. By thi means the upper will be properly centered laterally so that when the strap 4 has been worked into its operative position, the edge 12 of the upper will project evenly beyond the bottom of the last throughout its length.

The lasting strap 4 may be maintained in its operative position shown in Figs. 5 and 6 for a sufiicient length of time to insure that the upper 'will become permanently shaped to the last.

In-the manufacture of shoes, it is sometimes customary to load the fore part of the upper with some stiffening ingredient which, when dry, will add stiffness to the toe of the upper. If my invention is used in the lasting of shoe uppers which have thus been loaded with a stiffening ingredient, then the upper will be placed in an oven or drying apparatus while the upper is still held in conforming contact with the last by the lasting strap 4 for the purpose of hardening the stiffening ingredient. After the shoe upper is dry, it will hold the shape given to it by the last after the lasting strap has been removed and the upper has been taken oii from the last.

After the upper has been lasted and caused to conform to the last as above described, then the shoe may be finished by any of the different processes which are usually employed in finishing different types of shoes. If the shoe is to be of the so-called California Process type, then a strip would be sewed to the edge of the shaped upper and the edge of such strip will be folded over and attached to the platform with which such shoes are provided. If the invention is to be used in connection with the making of a cemented shoe, then an insole would be applied to the Mt tom of the last and the edge of the upper would be folded over and cemented to the insole. In such case the projecting edge if! of the upper would be somewhat longer than that illustrated in the drawings. The invention may also be employed in connection with the manufacture of welt shoes. In any case after the upper has been made to conform to the shape of the last as above described, then the shoe may be finished by any of the difierent processes which are usually employed in finishing different types of shoes.

The strap 4 with the resilient member 1 connecting the ends thereof may be considered as a closed loop structure, some portion at least of which is made resilient so that when the closed loop is anchored to the last and is then acted on to conform the upper to the last, the resilient portion of the loop (which in the case of the present embodiment is the spring 1) will yield and thus provide the necessary pressure by which the body of the strap 4 is held tightly in embracing contact with the toe portion of the last.

While I have illustrated a lasting strap in which the body is of leather and the resilient portion 1 is in the form of a spring, yet the invention is not limited to this construction as the resilient portion of the closed loop may be made in some other way than by means of a spring or it may be possible to use a closed loop made of rubber which affords within itself the required resiliency to enable the necessary operations to be carried out.

I claim:

1. A device for shaping shoe uppers comprising a last having its bottom face at the heel portion oifset from the bottom face at the toe portion, a strap-like element of flexible material having the form of an elongated closed loop adapted to embrace the toe portion of the last and hold the upper conformed to the last, some portion at least of said strap-like element being elastic, and means to anchor said strap-like element to the bottom of the heel portion of the last, whereby the side portions of the closed loop strap-like element extend from the bottom of the heel portion of the last to the sides of the fore part portion and thus hold the upper snugly against the sides of the last at the shank thereof.

2. A device for shaping shoe uppers to lasts comprising a last having its bottom face at the heel portion offset from the bottom face at the toe portion, an anchoring stud extending from the bottom of the last at the heel portion, a stra of flexible material extending from one side of the last at the shank portion around the toe of the fore part of the last and back to the shank portion thereof on the other side, and an elastic member connecting the ends of the strap and anchored to said stud, whereby after the upper has been conformed to the last by manipulating the strap into a position in which it embraces the toe portion of the last, the portions of the strap where it passes from the bottom of the heel portion of the last to the sides of the fore part hold the upper snugly against the last at the shank portions thereof. s

3. A device of the class described comprising a last, a lasting strap element in the form of a closed loop adapted to embrace the toe portion of the last, some portion at least of said lasting strap element being elastic, and means to anchor said strap to the bottom surface of the heel of the last at a point in the plane of the portions of said strap which embrace the fore part of the last.

MAURICE SPACK. 

